Great day!

Today is a FANTASTIC, BEAUTIFUL, WONDERFUL day. Air tickets have been booked Heath and the kids are on their way to Oz very shortly. In fact they will be here in 18 days. They arrive on 4th April. 1 day before our 12th wedding anniversary. Yiiiihhhhhaaaa!!!! The best present I could ever wish for. So now the countdown starts! They are most probably going to be bushed from the flight but I am going to drag them around to as much as possible over the week-end as they can rest in the next week while I am working. Unfortunately it is a busy time for me at work but we will survive. Then the next week-end is Easter so great to be able to spend it as a family. There are going to be a lot of celebrations here in Perth so I am sure there is going to be plenty to keep us busy. Plus at the end of April there is another public holiday (Anzac day) so this should give them all enough time to settle in before Reece starts school.

Now that I know when the fandamily are arriving I will be registering Reece into school and Bryce into day care. I think it is going to be a bit of a shock to the system for both of them but they will survive.

I started moving into the house in Applecross over the last week-end but not officially in. I have got some of the basic kitchen stuff organised and we have one three seater couch so far. I will be assembling our bed and the kid’s beds over the week-end. It is wonderful having IKEA around the corner to get the basics at a good price. So basically we will have somewhere to sleep and somewhere to sit for the moment. I have also achieved in finding a place to rent all of the appliances for the moment. I.e. fridge/freezer, TV, DVD player and washing machine and dryer for $59 a week. It is a bargain for me at the moment as to try and source all of this is not the easiest when most of the shops close at 5:00-5:30pm everyday so if you are working not the easiest to get to. Most places are closed on Sunday so you only really have Saturday to get everything done. So this rental idea is a bargain in my eyes. Plus they deliver for free and install everything for me for free. Even better bargain! Appliances are not cheap so for all of you still planning to move here save up, but luckily there are quite a few companies that rent furniture and appliances.

There is a very big drive here in Oz to get companies to hire and not fire even though there are still many companies who are retrenching people. So now they are planning to hand out less skilled visas over the next year so that companies start employing the existing people in the market. There is also a drive to hire some of the older generation people i.e. over 40 as companies have determined that over this age group companies are able to keep these people in the jobs for 5yrs plus whereas the younger generation stay in a job 1 – 1.5yrs. Then there is also a big drive to keep the kids in school or if they cannot stay in school then being sent on an apprentice training programs. So all in all at least they are trying their best to keep people in jobs.

Work is hectic at the moment but it is good to be busy at work as then days do not drag on. We are still having some hot weather here still in the high thirty’s. Even though, today we had a bit of relief bit cooler with a bit of rain which is great relief.

Well better make my way to bed as did not sleep to well last night as it was so hot and I have a busy day tomorrow.

Keep well and chat again soon.
Cheers
N